Jules Verne's Captain Hatteras - Part 2: Ice Desert

Chapter 16 - Boreal Arcadia

On 29 May, for the first time, the sun didn't set; its disk touched the horizon lightly and rose immediately; they entered within twenty-four hours. The next day, the radiant star appeared surrounded by a magnificent halo, a circle of light shining in all the colors of the rainbow; the fairly frequent occurrence of these phenomena always attracted the doctor's attention; he never forgot to note its date, dimensions and aspects; the one he observed that day had, through its elliptical shape, configurations still little known.

Soon all the screaming race of birds reappeared; herds of bustards, flocks of geese from Canada, coming from the distant lands of Florida or, perhaps, Arkansas, flew north with formidable speed and brought spring on their wings. The doctor managed to hunt a few of them, about three or four younger roosters and a lone stork.

Meanwhile, the snow was melting on all sides under the rays of the sun; salt water, spread on ice-fields through crevices and seal holes, accelerated the decomposition of ice; mixed with seawater, the ice formed a kind of dirty paste that Arctic navigators called slush. Large puddles covered the land in the vicinity of the bay, and the soil thus cleared seemed to rise as a result of the boreal spring.

The doctor starts planting again; the seeds were not lacking; in fact, he was quite surprised to discover a kind of sorrel rising naturally among the dry rocks, and to admire this creative force of nature which requires so little to fulfill itself. It looked like a watercress, whose young shoots, after only three weeks, grew quite tall.

The weeds, too, began to shyly show their little flowers an insecure, almost discolored pink, a pink in which an unseen hand would have put too much water. In conclusion, the flora of New America left much to be desired; however, this rare and timid vegetation was pleasing to the eye; it was all that the faint rays of the sun could give, one last recollection of providence, which had not entirely forgotten these distant realms.

Finally, it was quite warm; on 15 June, the doctor finds that the thermometer marks 57 degrees Fahrenheit above zero (+14 degrees Celsius); he couldn't believe his eyes, but he had to point it out: the land was changing; countless and noisy waterfalls fell from all the sun-carved peaks; the ice was disintegrating, and the eternal question of the open sea was to be answered. The air filled with the sound of avalanches crashing from the top of the hills to the bottom of the precipices, and the crackling of the ice-field made a deafening roar.

Finally, they made a trip to Johnson's Island; it was, in reality, only an unimportant, arid and deserted islet; but the old crew chief was no less pleased to name these few rocks lost at sea. He would even engrave it on a higher rock, but he was about to break his neck.

During these walks, Hatteras carefully observes all the lands as far as Washington Cape; melting snow changes the land visibly; ravines and hills appeared where the vast white expanse of winter seemed to cover the smooth plains.

The house and the warehouses threatened to be dissolved and always had to be repaired; fortunately, temperatures of fifty-seven degrees are rare at these latitudes, and their average barely exceeds the freezing point.

Around the 15th of June, the boat was quite advanced, and it was already taking a beautiful shape. While Bell and Johnson were working on its construction, the others tried to hunt, and the results were very good. They managed to kill even reindeer; these animals are very difficult to approach; however, Altamont put into practice the method of the Indians in his country; he crawled on the ground, placing his rifle and arms so that they looked like the horns of one of these shy four-legged men, and so, when he got to the right place, he was able to shoot safely.

But the hunt, par excellence the musk ox, of which Parry had found numerous herds on Melville Island, was completely missing on the shores of Victoria Gulf. It was decided to organize a further trip, both for hunting this animal and for recognizing the eastern lands. Hatteras didn't intend to reach the pole through this part of the continent, but the doctor didn't bother to get a general idea of ​​this land. So they decided to take a trip east of Fort Providence. Altamont hoped he could hunt, and Duk seemed glad to attend.